Proposal: Create Green Banks to Fight for the Environment and Redistribute Wealth
Contrary to contemporary customs of consumerism and convenience, consider connection, consequence, conscience, and conservation. . . and dollars.
Bernie Sanders (via Twitter 08/30/19): “If the environment were a bank it would have been saved already.”
So let’s create a Federal Green Bank.
“And one day we must ask the question, ‘Why are there forty million poor people in America? And when you begin to ask that question, you are raising questions about the economic system, about a broader distribution of wealth.’ When you ask that question, you begin to question the capitalistic economy. And I’m simply saying that more and more, we’ve got to begin to ask questions about the whole society…”
— Martin Luther King, Jr. speech to Southern Christian Leadership Conference Atlanta, Georgia, August 16, 1967.
And let's use the Green Bank to facilitate a broader distribution of wealth.
I stare out the window at shadows thrown by dancing White Pine boughs. I can’t see the brown corn stubble in the field behind the house, but I can hear the tractors grumbling back and forth through the Catskills mud, harvesting cow corn for the small dairy farm down the road; catch the flash of headlights. They reap in November dark.
Dishes are done, but I still stand at the stainless sink. I grab one of three Ziploc bags that housed frozen dinner pats before they became dinner. A tiny drop of blue dish liquid goes into the bag, then a squirt of hot water. I squish the liquid all around, creating a mini maelstrom of iridescent bubbles. Grab number two bag. Pour the bubbles from one into two. Swirl and swish. Grab number 3. Repeat. Dump the now cool water down the drain.
Turn bag one inside out. Rinse quickly under hot running water. Turn off water — conserve. Shake bag. Hang to dry. Repeat with bags two and three.
I had this great idea a while back. I think it actually came to me on Earth Day.
To honor the day, I would begin a project I’d call “Consumption Catalog.”
My plan was to record every detail of everything I used. A daily reckoning of what, as a member of the species Homo sapiens, I use each day — eat, drink, burn, flush, trash, recycle, reuse, compost.
I lasted three days — my own volume of consumption shocked me. But, my eyes opened. What could I do to cut down?
I rigorously recycle, but now I read reports stating detergent bottles, shampoo bottles, other plastic containers for liquids no longer recycle successfully. China doesn’t want our waste anymore. So today, I’ve got twenty-some detergent bottles in my basement waiting for a second life. Remember when laundry detergent came in cardboard boxes? Powdered? How about deli foods — remember when the deli wrapped them in paper?
Plastic wrap over plastic containers and over paper magazines, inside cardboard boxes, and puffed with air to make bubblewrap.
Plastic — convenient, so-called disposable, but nearly indestructible. Created from petrochemicals/fossil fuels.
OK. So I’ll cut down on plastic use. Tough to do. Besides re-using Ziplocs, I bring my own bags to the supermarket . . . or pharmacy. . .or whatever. Including bags I’ll use for loose produce. I stopped buying lettuce wrapped in plastic; I refuse to buy bagged bananas . . . I’ve found some frozen foods packaged only in cardboard. I asked my local supermarket for powdered laundry soap. Now they stock it in a bottom shelf corner under rows of plastic bottled liquids.
I try to buy without plastic.
But plastic is just a small part of the problem — don’t forget energy and water use, deforestation for paper production, agribusiness . . .
I don’t eat meat. I buy only recycled paper products — toilet paper, paper towels, copy paper. I launder with cold water, hang to dry. I grow vegetables. I compost. I live in an area with few public transportation options.
I drive a car. (It’s 15 years old and still gets decent mileage — I can’t afford a hybrid or electric). I heat with oil, connect frequently with the internet. I ski. I fly . . . once a year.
I am of this time, this place, this history. I didn’t create the problem, but till recently, I mindlessly helped perpetuate it. Now I worry about too much consumption based on convenience with no consideration . . . no consideration.
We didn’t know. We didn’t think. We didn’t consider the consequence.
I know I do not struggle alone, nor are my efforts as comprehensive as others — Zero Waste Groups, No Fly Groups, Off The Grid Individualists. But pundits say our meager steps mean nothing in the big picture.
Manufacturers need to find a way to package without or with less plastic. Big oil needs to help find solutions. Government . . . well, then there’s government. . .
I say, what if more individuals took small steps?
And how do we convince those who stubbornly believe “It doesn’t affect me?” Or persuade those who make occasional green decisions but whose small steps fail to offset other huge consumptive choices — the Tesla owners who live in huge mansions, who jet as frequently as I drive — to examine their decisions.
If people fail to connect experientially, create economic connections. Open eyes, get people, even institutions to consider impacts . . . and consequently redistribute wealth. It is all about money.
Here’s my proposal:
Start with individuals: Assign each US resident a green account with an annual allotment of green credits. The allotment is the same for everyone and is based on mean measures of consumption nationwide — per capita use of kilowatt hours of electricity, gallons of water, flight miles, gallons of gas or diesel, pounds of trash. All men are created equal with equal rights. Allotments do not immediately translate into dollar value, but that conversion can be made. The credits relate to environmental impacts — energy purchases, water use, garbage disposal. . . Like industrial carbon credits/offsets but for everyone . . . everything.
Individuals can build their credit by using alternative energy, volume of recycling.
If an individual chooses to use more credits than their allotment, they can purchase credits from other individuals — from a pool managed by the Federal Green Bank.
For example, perhaps allotted credits cover energy usage for a 2000 square foot residence, standardized transportation fuel consumption, average trash disposal, and mean internet usage. Some individuals will not reach the allotted credits will have a surplus. That surplus translates into a commodity they can sell. Others may choose to exceed their allotted credits — live in a giant house, fly more, drive more, connect more. They can purchase necessary credits from the pooled surpluses.
The dollar value of each purchased credit includes a small amount dedicated to a national reserve earmarked for green projects.
A federal green bank based on a green instead of a gold standard manages the pool. Economic and environmental costs parallel one another but are not exactly equivalent.
The green bank pays those with green surpluses on a periodic basis.
Use more, pay more. Use less, receive a rebate. We’re all in this together.
Expand the green bank to corporations, institutions already navigating a system of carbon credits/carbon offsets that may or may not be working. . .
The price we all pay is more than dollars.
Reality. In the heart of my heart, soul of my soul, brain of my brain — I do not expect the green accounts and the federal green bank to materialize. This simple idea prompts complex questions: Who determines the values of the green credits? How are debits and withdrawals accounted for without infringing on individual rights to privacy? Why would climate deniers ever agree to it?
I am well aware of the argument that individual action makes little difference. That only corporate action, anti-fossil fuel action, and policy change will turn the tide.
I argue it’s not just the small steps we take; it’s the philosophy of why we take those steps. It’s how we think.
No expectations. Just hope.
What I wish for — individual consideration of actions, acceptance of personal responsibility, and consequent adjustment of behavior. Add more of a dream — corporate responsibility, consideration of actions beyond the monetary bottom line, and consequent corporate adjustment of behavior.
Like I said . . . consider.
Consumer convenience consequence conscience consider
